19-Year-Old Westchester Singer Alleviates 'Doubts' With New Hit Single

"Doubts," an original by Hastings resident Caleb Flood, is in regular rotation on the Peak.Video Credit: Caleb FloodHastings resident Caleb Flood has been performing since age 11.Photo Credit: Caleb Flood Facebook

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HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, N.Y. --
Caleb Flood
can’t remember a time in his life where he wasn’t fascinated by music.

As a toddler, the Hastings resident would put on performances for his family and beat on a drum set made of pots and pans. He started taking piano at five but by eight had moved onto the guitar.

Now, you can find the 19-year-old traveling the world belting out original songs and playing a range of instruments, including the guitar, piano, bass, and drums. (He can also play ukulele, harmonica, and a few other random instruments.)

If you're a
WXPK ("The Peak")
listener, you most likely have already heard him; his song, "Doubts," is in frequent rotation.

Flood, whose real name is Caleb Flood Goldstick, submitted the song to the radio' station's 9:37 local talent segment and received so much feedback from listeners that he not only became a Peak "regular," but Coach, one of The Peak's DJ's, invited him to open for Hollis Brown at the Peak’s “Low Dough Show” in February.

"As an unsigned artist it's extremely difficult to get music on terrestrial radio so I’m incredibly grateful for the support I’ve been given by The Peak," he said.

Flood's success, however, started earlier than that. Though the bulk of his musical education came from Hastings schools -- he was in the band, chorus and almost every school musical -- he got his real break at 13 when he asked his mom, Diane (he has two moms), to help him find a producer to record the music he had been writing and performing since age 11.

With her help, he found PJ Bianco, an L.A. based producer who has worked with Nick Jonas, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, L.P., and many other big name artists.

"We sent him a few youtube videos and later that night he called us asking when we could come out to L.A," said Flood.

Over the next two years Flood recorded an 8 song EP -- "Caleb" - which ended up opening the doors to a host of opportunities such as performing at the Roxy Theatre and recording with Elton John’s management company Rocket Music.

Over the years, he's performed at a wide variety of venues including Zsa Zsa Gabor’s mansion in Hollywood, at the Stonewall Inn in NYC, at Trans Pride in Brighton, England, and at Peace Palace in The Hague. He recently returned home after a month's stint in Montreal.

Flood, who describes his music as Alt-Pop -- a blend of pop, alternative rock, singer-songwriter, and hip hop -- said he's most influenced by singer-songwriters like Frank Ocean, Ed Sheeran, Bastille, Kanye West and Cage The Elephant.

"Mostly I write fiction based loosely on my life experiences," he explained. "I’ve written a lot of love songs as well as songs about friendship, loss, travel, and once, a pair of dirty sneakers sitting on my floor. Really, I write about anything that inspires me."

And that sometimes includes lyrics with a social or political message, like his songs “More Time” and “You’re Not Alone.”

"Both of those were written between 2010 and 2012 at a time when there were a record amount of teen suicides brought on by bullying/homophobia.

"Having grown up with two moms, these suicides affected me deeply, it was also the first time I realized just how much pain someone could cause with only words," he said.

At the moment he's working on two new EP’s. And, he has a solo EP coming out as well as an EP with his band, Caleb + The Culture. Neither has a solid release date yet but he expects them both to be out this summer.

In the meantime, you can catch him at
Sidewalk NYC
Saturday, April 8 at 10 p.m. as well as Friday, May 19 for an acoustic solo set at 7 p.m.

And, if he's not busy enough, in August, he'll start as a freshman at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU studying music performance, production, and business.